Button



(No Model.)

L. GODDU.

' BUTTON.

No. 289,830. PatentedDec. I1, 1883.

N. PETERS. Piwlolithc n mn Washingion, DJ.

UNTTE STATES PATENT Tries.

LOUIS GODDU, or WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Nb. 289,830, dated December 11, 1883.

Application filed January 29, 1883. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Lours-Go'nnu, of Winchester, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Buttons, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to buttons, and has for its object to produce a cheap and durable button that can be fastened directly to the fabric or leather upon which it is to be used without the employment of stitches or other separate fastening device on which the button turns.

My improved button consists of a compressed r or consolidated head portion, preferably made of a piece of sole-leather or of wood, and a twopronged metallic shank consisting, preferably, of a wire bent into U shape and driven through the head portion from its outer side, the connected portion of the shank being embedded in the head, after which the said prongs are bent to form a suitable neck and a foot to rest upon the leather or fabric, the ends of the said prongs constituting attaching portions that are subsequently pressed through the leather or fabric and bent over or clinched on its under side to fasten the button thereon.

Figure1represents,in section,acircular piece of leather or wood suitable for a button-head, a two-pronged shank being driven through the holes made in it. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a button in the process of manufacture in accordance with this invention, the head portion having been compressed or consoli dated upon the wire shankforced into place therein, but not yet bent into proper shape to form the neck and foot and attaching prongs or portions. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a button in the process of being attached to the leather or fabric, the attaching-prongs being shown in full lines as thrust through the leather, and in dotted lines as clinched below the leather to hold the buttons securely thereon. Fig. 4 shows a modified form of button, such as may be used to receive a lacing about its neck; and Fig. 5, a modification, showing the prongs of the shank portion crossed.

The button has a head portion, a, composed of any suitable or usual material, a disk of leather, marked 8, Fig. 1, and cut from small waste pieces, being preferred as the best malike a staple, the two prongs or legs of which are thrust from the outside or face of the head portion wholly through holes in the said head portion, and the connecting portion 2 of the said shank or wire is embedded in the said head of the button will subsequently be subjected to lateral pressure in dies to compress or consolidate it, as in Figs. 2 and 3, so that it completely-incloses the bent or connected portion 2 of the shank. The prongs or legs of the shank extending from the head of the button are pinched or bent together to form a neck, as

at 0, Figs. 3 and 4. The prongs may, if desired, be crossed, as in Fig. 5. The contraction or bending of the shank, Fig. 2, to form the neck or eye 0 causes the shank to inclose betweenits legs a portion of the head a of the button, as will be understood by referring to Fig. 2, thus positively fastening the head upon the shank. Below the neck 0 the prongs are bent as shown, to form a foot, (1, adapted to rest upon the surface of the material to which the button is to be fastened, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, the said foot resting directly upon the leather or fabric and determining the distance of the under side of the head of the button therefrom. Below the foot 01 the ends ofthe shank constitute fastening-prongs 6, adapted to be thrust through the fabric or leather, as best shown in Fig. 3, where they will be clinched upon the under side of the material, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3, and full lines, Fig. 4, to thus securely fasten the button to the material. In the form shown in Fig. 4 the foot d is offset from the neck 0, so thatthe prongs 6 pass through the leather out of line with the neck 0 of the button, the foot and head of which thus form a hook, which may be employed in place of the usual hooks to receive a lacing passed around them. The hole 8 at the upper side of the head extends about half-way through it. and at the bottom of the said hole there are two holes for the legs of the pronged shank. Compression in dies of the material forming the head of the button closes the opening 8 therein above the connected end 2 of the shank, and-through which the shank was driven, consolidates and hardens the said head portion, and gives shape and outline to the head. The shape of the head may be changed Without departing from my invention.

' I'claim- 1. In a button, the head portion and doublepronged shank inserted therein from the outer side of the head portion and bent to form a foot,

' and two prongs adapted to be inserted through the material and subsequently clinched, as shown and described.

- 2. A button-head provided with two holes for the reception of the prongs of a staple-like shank, combined with a staple-like shank in serted therein from the outer side of the head and bent to form an eye and a foot with extended prongs, substantially as described.

3. The head portion provided with a hole, 8, at its upper side, and with two holes extended from the bottom of the said hole 8, combined with a staple-like shank inserted therein, leaving its connected part 2 below the top of the head, the said shank being bent to form a neck and foot, substantially as described.

4. The described improvement in the art of 25 making buttons, which consists in providing the head-forming material with holes made through it for the reception of the legs of a staple-like shank, inserting a staple-like shank into the said holes, compressing and consolidating the material of the head in a die, and forming the shank into a foot and two attaching portions or prongs adapted to be inserted through leather or fabric and to be clinched, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS GODDU.

, \Vitnesses:

G. V. GREGORY, B. J. NoYEs. 

